258 N. ANNANDALE. 



my attempt would probably be difficult of accomplishment. I knew that it would 

 be impossible, however generous the aid obtained from specialists in India and abroad, 

 to complete a survey of a similar area of tropical jungle, or even of cultivated land 

 on the mainland, without many years of collecting, study and correspondence ; but I 

 also knew that the fauna of a small rocky island was likely to be, and indeed was, 

 much poorer than that of any fertile spot on the mainland, and I hoped against hope. 



The hope was not fulfilled. Large collections and copious notes were made, but 

 the constant changes observed in the fauna in correlation with changes in the weather 

 and in the vegetation stood in the way of regarding these as completely representa- 

 tive, much less exhaustive. So many groups of insects and other animals were, more- 

 over, to be considered, even though there were often only a few species of each, and 

 the assistance of so few taxonomists could be obtained, that I despaired of obtaining 

 authentic identifications. Finally, I realized that in order to study the fauna in a 

 comprehensive spirit I must first study the vegetation, the physical structure, the 

 palaeontology and the climate of the island. 



It has been my experience that a biological memoir of faunistic scope loses in 

 ultimate value with delay in giving it literary form. Field-notes at best are mere 

 sketches for a finished picture, and from them the observer himself must select, com- 

 bine and elaborate to produce an organic whole. Unless he has had practical expe- 

 rience of taxonomy it is difficult if not impossible for him to know what to select. It 

 is very seldom that he can obtain all the " results" due to workers on other lines 

 without long delay, in the course of which his perception of the main thesis becomes • 

 dulled and blurred by other investigations and, should he belong to a Government 

 department, by the exigencies of an official career. It has been held that taxonomic 

 zoology should be divorced completely from field biology. This seems to me a 

 singularly narrow view, liable to stand in the way of all progress in scientific taxo- 

 nomy. 



For these reasons I have decided not to wait for the preparation of reports on 

 various elements in the fauna by specialists in India, Europe and America. These 

 will, I hope, be published elsewhere later. A report on the physiography, palaeonto- 

 logy and botany of Barkuda will form the most fitting, if not the only useful, intro- 

 duction to a study of its fauna. 



In preparing this introduction I have had generous help from members of 

 other scientific departments of the Government of India. I have to thank Lieut. - 

 Col. A. T. Gage, Director of the Botanical Survey of India, and Mr. C. C. Calder, who 

 is at present officiating for him, for instructing Mr. Narayanaswami to prepare the 

 Ust of plants from which I derive the identifications utilized in my study of the vege- 

 tation. This list has been partly revised and greatly amplified by Dr. H. G. Carter, 

 Economic Botanist, Botanical Survey of India, who accompanied me to Barkuda in 

 April, 1920. I have also to thank Dr. E. H. Pascoe, of the Geological Survey of India, 

 for a valuable note on rock-specimens incorporated in my report. To Mr. E. 

 Vredenburg of the same department I am further indebted for equally valuable 

 notes and suggestions. He visited Barkuda with me in September, 1920. 



